Social Victorians/Golden Dawn/Egyptology Group

The Egyptology or Egyptian Group

The members of the Egyptology Group in the Golden Dawn did not use their G.D. mottos when they did what they called their Egyptology work.

Logistics

• Of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
• Met between 1898 and 1901

Leader

• Florence Farr

Members' Initiation Dates

The First Group

• Ada Waters
• Cecilia Macrae
• Marcus Blackden
• Helen Rand
• E. A. Hunter
• H. Dorothea Hunter (at that time Miss Harriet Butler)
• Florence Kennedy
• Robert Felkin

The Second or Later Group?

• Frederick L. Gardner
• Henrietta M. Paget

Timeline

1896 January 27, MacGregor Mathers wrote "a long letter" to Florence Farr, as she put it, "in reply to a letter of mine sending a charged drawing of the Egyptian and asking him if I were not grossly deceived by her claiming to be equal in rank to an 8-3 of our Order at the same time giving me numbers which I afterwards calculated to be correct for that grade. I still [on 17 January 1901] possess his letter approving altogether of my working with her, and saying it was necessary to make offerings & then all would be well -- &c &c" (Harper 74 221).

1896 November 23, Annie Horniman wrote Frederick Gardner: "Care [Dear] 'Daffodil'" -- "What a time of it you must give S.S.D.D. [Farr]. She wants me to study Egyptian too, but I find one new language enough at a time and am hard at work at Italian" (Harper 74 225).

1898?, Robert Felkin later wrote "a paper on 'The [Egyptology] Group and Fortiter [Annie Horniman],' which includes in part,

When the first Group was formed by Mrs. Emery [Florence Farr], she told us that D.D.C.F. [Mathers] approved of such groups, as also did S.A. Westcott and that indeed S.A. had once formed such a group himself.

...

The members of the first group were Miss Waters, Mrs. Macrae, Mr. Blackden, Mrs. Rand, Mr. Hunter, Mrs. Kennedy, Miss Butler [later Mrs. E. A. Hunter] and myself. Our Order names were never used and an Egyptian figure occupied the center of the Sphere.

With regard to the Order rooms [at 36 Blythe Road] being used for the Group, I do not think that the Group met there more than four or five times at the utmost and there were two meetings at Mrs. Emery's private rooms, but meetings were not necessary for the work of the Group.

Now the original Egyptian Group only lasted from the summer of 1898 to 1901, when we had a meeting and we were told that the Egyptian had retired from the Group and the reason being that he was changing his place on the higher planes and could no longer work with us ... so the second Group was formed having the Holy Grail on the central pillar. (Qtd. Howe 251; editorial interpolations and ellipses are all Howe's)

Horniman had objected to the groups.

1900 September, Farr's group had been meeting for three years. She wrote on 17 January 1901, "when I found everything I proposed was objected to. After a few weeks I discovered that my group ... was being violently attacked" (Harper 74 222). The "attack" was over meeting rooms at first. Then Farr was accused of secrecy: "I was then accused of keeping valuable information to myself. You will understand I think that with the anti-Egyptian Feeling about I shall still refuse to discuss Egyptian formulae with anyone not specially in sympathy with the ancient Egyptians."

1901 January 17, Farr wrote to John Brodie-Innes, who was in the country (as opposed to being in the city) where she couldn't speak with him, to justify the Sphere Group:

"On Jan 27th 1896 I received a long letter from DDCF. [MacGregor Mathers] in reply to a letter of mine sending a charged drawing of the Egyptian and asking him if I were not grossly deceived by her claiming to be equal in rank to an 8-3 of our Order at the same time giving me numbers which I afterwards calculated to be correct for that grade. I still possess his letter approving altogether of my working with her, and saying it was necessary to make offerings & then all would be well - &c &c. I soon found there was a considerable prejudice against Egyptian Symbolism amongst the members of the Order and I began to hold my tongue after having recommended the various clearly marked groups of thinkers (such as Indian, Christian and so on) to work steadily and regularly by themselves each under some more advanced person. To you and to those who were not antipathetic I spoke more freely. When the splits in the Order itself became more and more pronounced my work with 3 others having become extremely interesting we resolved to carry out a plan suggested by an Egyptian for the holding together of a strong nucleus on purely Order lines." (Harper 74 221)

One of the prejudiced ones was Frederick Gardner? In the 23 November 1896 "Care 'Daffodil'" letter, Horniman says, "What a time of it you must give S.S.D.D. [Farr]. She wants me to study Egyptian too, but I find one new language enough at a time and am hard at work at Italian" (Harper 74 225). One of the "3 others" was Robert Felkin, I think. Another was "Volo"? (Florence Kennedy). On the other hand, the "3 others" were E. A. Hunter, Dorothea Hunter, and Henrietta Paget?

"All went well until September 1900 when I found everything I proposed was objected to. After a few weeks I discovered that my group which had been working quietly for 3 years was being violently attacked" (Harper 74 222). First she was "attacked" because of a conflict over rooms to meet in, so Farr agreed to a policy requiring groups to reserve meeting rooms.

"I was then accused of keeping valuable information to myself. You will understand I think that with the anti-Egyptian Feeling about I shall still refuse to discuss Egyptian formulae with anyone not specially in sympathy with the ancient Egyptians." (Harper 74 223)

Questions and Notes

1. What are the differences between this group and the Sphere Group?
2. The group's purpose was to study Egyptology and perform Isis rituals?

Bibliography

• Harper 1974
• Howe